Why I chose WordPress and how it relates to modern DBA work.

This is a new blog. I decided that I could go home-brew and spend a while creating and debugging something, or I could get busy and put up a new site (using Azure Marketplace – Microsoft please send check to me in a day). I chose the latter.

WordPress makes a complete and easy to use blogging product. It was simple to get it up and running. Much better than reinventing the wheel.

I’m an old geezer in the IT world, starting work over 30 years ago. As such, there is a strong desire within me to craft every solution from a blank slate. However, times change. Adapting to those changing times is important. Is my winter vacation time better spent developing something already well-done by others, or with family? This choice is a no-brainer.

We see this all the time in the work world. Companies have wised up. What company builds an ERP solution from scratch anymore? A package is purchased, customized features are added, and the product is deployed. For DBA this is a challenge set all its own.

Packaged software vendors rarely prioritize the needs of a SQL Server DBA to maintain performance as an application scales. For many packaged products, things like Entity Framework and SQL generators restrict DBA query tuning options. Database structures are mostly out of DBA hands, meaning that the options for fixing poorly-envisioned table structures and the like are also limited. How do we respond when performance tanks? Is the performance-tuning role of a 21st-Century DBA relegated to tossing indexes over the fence? May it never be!

As the site grows, I will share more and more about how to deal with these frustrations and challenges. I also look forward to your comments.